Communal clashes in Ebonyi not politically motivated – Govt

Ebonyi State government, Wednesday refuted insinuations in several quarters that the communal crisis that engulfed communities in Ikwo and Izzi Local Government Areas were political motivated.

Senator Emmanuel Onwe, state Commissioner for Information and Orientation, made the condemnation in Abakaliki noting that such disgraceful reports, do not benefit the individuals.

“The media should not inflame such utterances in their reportage because when I was an undergraduate in London, I visited Rwandan with the firm I worked for”.

“In the thick of the ethnic cleansing more than 750,000 were slaughtered in one weekend because some ethnic and clannish people went on radio to hype a misunderstanding between two tribes”.

“All security reports concerning the crisis, suggest that it had nothing to do with politics as individuals should not use such as a political tool”, he said.

He noted that the consequences of the crisis had been tragic and the state government had taken proactive measures to permanently check the occurrences.

“The crisis between Ekpomaka and Inyimegu saw the killing of a soldier when some people from Inyimegu, descended on Ekpomaka community but the security apparatus have been alert to the situation.

The commissioner remarked that no further hostilities have been recorded since then, as the governor has paid special tributes to Ekpomaka community for not taking retaliatory measures and obeying government’s directive to maintain cessation of hostilities.

“The government has set up various committees headed by Rev. Fr. Abraham Nwali to investigate and bring all the hostilities to a permanent control to ensure lasting peace in the areas”.

He added that the government would continue paying attention to peace

and security of the state because people do not vote or play politics in crises areas.